Senator Harry Reid is a little confused over the casino provision in the stimulus package and he is asking President Obama to clarify the provision. Reid sent a letter to Obama stating his concerns.

Among the concerns that Reid voiced was how charitable organizations would be handled by the provision. Nonprofit organizations believe they cannot request any of the stimulus money if it is going to be spent in a casino.

“The overly broad language hurts nonprofits in Nevada, especially,” said Reid in the letter. He also wrote of the possibility that nonprofit groups that use casino convention space for their meetings could be stopped from applying for any of the bail out money.

There are many cynics who believe that Reid is simply trying to find a loophole for casinos in his state to receive some of the funds. These cynics point to Reid’s voting against the casino provisions as a reason he may be going to battle for Las Vegas casinos.

“In a democracy, the only ‘clarification’ the Majority Leader needs is a 73-24 Senate vote if favor of Dr. Coburn’s amendment,” said spokesman for Coburn, John Hart, “Being the majority leader doesn’t give Reid the right to reshuffle the deck when he doesn’t like the cards he’s been dealt.”

While the cynics continue to blast Reid’s alleged motives, a spokesman for Reid claimed that the Senator only sent the letter because the issue came up from the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, not from casino owners.

Gambling is recreation for most people. While certain politicians try and make people believe that gambling problems run rampant in today’s society, the truth is that by the percentages, problem gambling is few and far between.

Once in a while a case does come along where gambling has led to other crimes. That is the case for a New York man who has been arrested for cheating a Connecticut casino out of over $40,000 in cash advances from counterfeit credit cards.

De Jin Lin is only thirty one years old. The gambler, however, is now facing serious criminal charges after apparently using counterfeilt credit cards to obtain over $40,000 in cash advances.

The crimes occured between February 15th and february 19th, according to police. They also claim that he used fourteen different credit cards in obtaining the money that he then gambled away.

Lin has been arrested and charged with among other things, larceny. The state police casino unit made the arrest.

A man in California apparently turned police on to the crimes after he followed up on charges that were placed on his card from Mohegan Sun. He wanted to know how there were charges of $2,088 from a place where he had never been.

The government in Quebec is facing much scrutiny over a proposal for the Montreal racetrack. They are attempting to turn the track into a gambling complex, and the city feels that the government is breaching a prior agreement by doing so.

According to City Councillor Marvin Rotrand, the government had promised that the racetrack and all gambling activity would be moved out of the area. In its place would be the development of a residential neighborhood.

“It (housing) would not only give young families the opportunity to remain in the city, it would attract suburbanites back in the city. It’s nonsense for a valuable piece of land of this size and scope so close to downtown, so close to the airport, across for the metro, near to several autoroutes to lie empty year after year,” said Rotrand.

The government has proposed the gambling complex as part of a bigger bailout package. The opposition to the package has come fast and furious and on Monday several groups are expected to publicly oppose the bail out.

“The government would have to impose this on us,” said Rotrand, who has been a city councillor for a long time. He believes he has enough support to stop the governments efforts and use the land for what it was intended for.

There is still a possibility that the bail out package for the racetrack could fall through. Breeders and horsemen are against the current version of the bail out, which could cause it to fall apart all together.

Underground Atlanta has been struggling for some time now and developers of the entertainment center downtown believe they have the answer to turn things around. The developers are teaming with a Delaware based company to try and bring casino gambling to Georgia.

“We have been going around and meeting with the usual suspects of business, civic, and community leaders and we believe there’s a ground swell of support for this concept,” said Dan O’Leary, one of the leaseholders for Underground.

Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment Inc. is the Delaware company who has joined the fight. They believe they can change the whole landscape of Underground Atlanta with the new form of gambling.

The gambling would take place using video lottery terminals, but the grand plan is on a much bigger scale. The group has already shown the Georgia Lottery Board their proposal which also includes a hotel and entertainment complex.

The projected revenue increase for the state could be something the Gaming Board will be interested in. They believe that the casino could bring in millions of dollars a year in tax revenue.

The HOPE Scholarship could also be a beneficiary of the casino. The hospitality industry is big in Atlanta and something of this size could boost the economy and the hospitality industry by millions.

AMZ Stock Soars After Taiwan Government Approves Gambling

USA Players Accepted at Rome Casino!

When a government makes a change to a gambling law, there are usually waves of change that occur because of the decision. That was the case Wednesday when the Taiwan government approved a Bill that repeals a law against casino gambling in the country.

AMZ is anticipating bringing a casino resort to Penghu and with today’s announcement their stock skyrocketed on the London Alternative Investment Market. Their stock price rose by forty six percent, to ninety one pence.

It has been a long time coming for Taiwan to repeal their gambling law. “The first draft of this Bill was made in 1994, and it took so long because there’s so much debate and so many competing voices. Because Taiwan’s economy is now falling, the belief is that probably these resort projects can help spur the economy,” said Justin Chou, a member of the ruling Kuomintang, in a telephone interview with Tim Culpan from Bloomberg.

Today’s action was particularly damaging to Macau. The casinos in Macau have already began to struggle financially, and now Taiwan joins Singapore to create much competition for casinos of Macau.

As for AMZ, they plan on being involved heavily in the bid to gain a gaming license from Taiwan. The regulations have not yet been put in place for the licenses, but once they are complete the proposals will begin being accepted. Taiwan’s economy is the reason that the gambling laws have been changed. The tourism money that used to flow freely has diminished in recent years and the government is hoping that casinos will bring some of that tourism back.

It is not like problem gambling is anything new in the state of Nevada. Gamblers who have addictions make up six percent of the betting public in the state and that number is in danger of rising in the current economic climate of the US.

The goal of the new Bill is to aid problem gamblers in receiving help before they fall too far into a hole. Gambling can be a debilitating disease with much the same emotional and financial problems that accompany alcohol or drug addiction.

“This is the type Bill that should already have been in place in a state such as Nevada that relies heavily on casino revenue for their existence. Although it comes a little late, the fact that they are trying to help problem gamblers is a good thing,” said observer Franklin Gruspata.

One of the people that is backing the Bill is Douglas Crawford. He recently was suspended from practicing law by the Nevada State Supreme Court. Douglass admitted to stealing almost $400,000 from clients to finance his gambling problem.

One of Crawford’s main concerns is that early detection is necessary. He claims that had there been an intervention in his case, the damage he caused himself and his clients could have been minimized.

Many states have recently began to address problem gambling. With casino expansion taking place in many of these states, it has become important to address possible problems from the expanded gambling. National Problem Gambling Awareness Week Begins on March 1st.

Earlier today, the Department of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System announced the release of a joint proposed rule to implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

While the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is still fully reviewing the proposed rule a cursory review reveals that the NPRM continues down the misguided path set forth by the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act signed into law last year.

The PPA has released the following statement:

“Poker players, the American banking community, and anyone who values Internet and personal freedoms should be troubled by this intrusive rule. Deputizing private U.S. financial institutions to determine what are lawful and unlawful transactions will lead to the monitoring and blocking of the personal and lawful financial transactions of many of their customers who wish to play games of skill, like poker, on the internet. This seems more like the actions of Iran than the USA. We are hopeful that sensibility will prevail before these rules are finalized,” said PPA Chairman, former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato.

“Congress should act immediately to pass legislation which will effectively regulate Internet poker and provide the proper safeguards to prevent minors from participating in Internet gaming, preserve states’ rights and ensure privacy and security of online transactions,” he added.

The PPA encourages anyone who is concerned by this government overreach into our personal decisions to voice their concerns during the 90 day comment period provided under the rules. Comments can be made by going to https://pokerplayersalliance.org/news/newsandarticles_article.php?DID=293.

Illegal gambling machines are becoming the top target for law enforcement in the US these days. The latest bust took place at the Pyramid Food mart in Columbus, Georgia.

Eight machines were found in a back room at the convenience store after two police officers in regular clothes walked in and observed people playing the machines. Two employees of the store were arrested and charged with a felony count of commercial gambling.

“They (officers) saw people going to and from the back room. I know they did watch people operate the machines,” said Captain William Turner. The police were in the store observing after they received a tip that the illegal gambling was taking place.

These type of arrests and busts are nothing new to the area. Over the last year there have been several raids, mostly on convenience stores. The machines have been confiscated but the raids have not stopped others from trying to run gambling operations.

In this particular situation police found machines that were hooked up to monitors. The customers would push a button and the reels would start. Then, the person would push the button again and the reels would stop.

The machines were similar to slot machines where the player has to line up symbols to win different prizes. The store is located at 3512 Buena Vista Road.